We had made it to the restaurant voted number 1 in the UK in the Good Food Guide. We drove up to Cartmel the day before and were staying in a nice hotel (The Priory). After a (purposely not too indulgent) breakfast and wander round the village we just had to walk around the corner to get to L'Enclume. Service was friendly and relaxed from the start, on our way through to our table (in the conservatory) we caught a glimpse of Simon Rogan in the kitchen-always nice to know the chef is still overseeing things especially when he's got new restaurants popping up all over the place.
Despite the name (and my father's assumptions) L'Enclume is not a French restaurant (apparently when it was set up 11 years ago it was, and the name which means anvil was chosen because the restaurant is in a former Smithy's). Over the years Simon Rogan has developed a style that concentrates on getting the best out of local and "foraged" ingredients. I did have some reservations that we may be eating leaves and soil, but I needn't have worried.
There is no choice of menu which means they are "free to express and to use whatever is available to us at that very moment in time" (although we did get asked if we would mind eating raw meat-usually I would mind, but when in Rome...). You do get a nice card with that day's menu printed on it to take home.
First course was "cod yolk" an interesting dish of cod mousse in an emulsion that makes it look like an egg yolk. Then they bought out the warm bread rolls before a beetroot broth with (slightly too) cheesy dumplings. The valley venison was raw, and although I'm still not keen on the whole idea of it the slightly barbecued taste (with charcoal oil) was very nice. My favourite savoury course was hake with cabbage, leeks and celeriac puree. The first desert was very tasty plum with toffee ice cream. We were sat in the very nice conservatory overlooking part of the garden with an apple tree, so it was not too surprising that apples featured in the final course of mousse with granny smith apple sauce.
To drink I had a sparkling rose as an aperitif, then a small glass of rose before having a desert wine to finish. Given my relative lack of alcohol recently I was pleasantly merry by this point and felt I needed a coffee to get me back round the corner to our hotel. A decent coffee was accompanied by a petit four-a chocolate containing Kendal mint ice-cream. There was also a selection of ales from the local brewery and English cider.
Overall everything was "just right". There was just the right amount of food on the set lunch menu at a pretty reasonable price of £45 (not sure I could manage the 21 courses they serve up for dinner). The different courses offered the right amount of new experiences versus more traditional combinations and the service was pitched at exactly the right level. They use Studio William cutlery (just like a certain Birmingham restaurant). What's more you can get a lunch reservation without having to plan things two months in advance and access an internet booking system at precisely 10am and have the chance to visit a pretty village in a lovely part of the country.
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| Beetroot broth, westcombe dumpling, onion shoots, nasturtium |
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| Cod 'yolk' wiwth watercress, dunner beans, salt and vinegar |
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| I don't understand anyone who moans about still being hungry at the end of a meal in a michelin starred restaurant-you can always fill up on bread if you need to |
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| Valley venison, charcoal oil, mustard and fennel |
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| Butter poached hake, grilled cabbage, hen of the woods and celeriac |
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| Plum and honey oats, malt and brown sugar |
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| View of an apple tree in the garden |
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| Meadow sweet, granny smith, sorrel and walnuts |
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| Petit fours |
http://www.lenclume.co.uk/sr/
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